Question

When a cannon is fired, are the forces on the cannonball and on the cannon equal in magnitude? Are the accelerations of the two equal?

Answer 1

The forces on both cannon and ball are equal, but they do not have equal acceleration.

Explanation:

Newton's third law states that for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction, so the forces on the cannon and cannonball are equal in magnitude (but not direction).

The acceleration for both objects are not equal as:

`"acceleration" = "force"/"mass"`

and the mass of the cannon is larger than the mass of the cannonball, so the acceleration is lesser for the cannon than for the cannonball.